Rob_E

https://www.newraleigh.com/articles/a...When:16:13:01Z

I don't know what the tone/format of the meeting will be, but it sounds interesting. Hopefully some BF folks will be able to stop in and give their 2 cents.

jterribili

you attending? I think I will be. I also posted that link in the commuting forum - maybe get a few from there to show up

Rob_E

It's right on my way home, so I guess I'll stop in and see what they're all about. Maybe I'll count the number of cars parked in the bike lane on Ridge Rd on the way in and suggest that maybe a place to start making Raleigh more bike-friendly is to not send mixed messages like setting up a bike lane and then not enforcing the no-parking rule.

jterribili

sheesh - never been up that way on my bike so I guess I'll see what you mean on Wednesday. I'll be coming from downtown so I should be hitting a little bit of Ridge

Rob_E

It's not too bad. Parked vehicles are the exception, not the rule, but I'd say I never go down that stretch from Wade to Glen Eden without having to go around at least one vehicle parked in the bike lane, usually more. Construction vehicles routinely ignore the posted "no parking" times, and often other vehicles do as well. It wouldn't be as bad, I don't think, if there wasn't a bike lane, and vehicles expected you to be on the road with them, but as it is I hate having to pop out of my lane and into traffic every time I come up upon someone parked in the lane. The drivable portion of Ridge Road is not very wide for passing, which, I suspect, is one reason for having a designated bike lane with no street parking before 7:00 PM.

tarwheel 

I plan to attend, although I will have to ride far out of my way (or drive) to make it. I posted some other comments about it in the Commuting forum. If you live in Raleigh, you might want to fill out the on-line survey they are doing about cycling in the city. Here's a link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?s...sUR7hp8w_3d_3d

tarwheel 

Anyone else go to the Raleigh Bike Transportation Plan meeting? I rode my bike over there after work, and that generated some more comments from me about the greenbelt system (namely the lack of signage). I got lost several times trying to follow the bike route, but eventually found my way.

I was surprised that they didn't have any of the Raleigh bike maps on hand. I was trying to give them some feedback about particular routes, but they didn't have any maps showing the city bike routes. Fortunately I had brought my map, so I was able to give them some good suggestions about improvements. Then they asked if I could leave them my map, but I needed it to find my way home from West Raleigh. Ended up having an interesting ride home along the Shelly Lake greenbelt system, dodging joggers and mothers pushing strollers. It was a nice change of pace, however, from my usual commute on city streets.

tulip

They didn't have any bike maps at the bike plan meeting???? Look, I'm a city planner, and maps are just basic for any meeting. That's pretty lame.

Aside from that major flaw, how was the meeting? I grew up in them parts, so I'm curious.

Rob_E

They did have Greenway maps, which was something. What they lacked was the bike map that shows not only greenways, but also the city's planned bike routes, which are basically their ideas about where a good bike ride might be. If I had known they needed one, they could have had mine. I could have easily gone without it for a while until I could get a replacement. What I noticed was that the place had no bike parking! I rode around the parking lot and finally left my bike propped up behind a hedge where I couldn't get quite close enough to the parking sign to lock it up. When I went in, I saw a couple of bikes inside. I guess that's what I should have done. I just filled out the comment form and made one comment on their list of objectives and left. It didn't seem like much of a meeting, but I'm glad I stopped by and participated.